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Many in the crowd covered their heads with hats, sheet and umbrellas against the blazing sunshine as Benedict prayed that Mexicans would be given the strength 'to boldly promote peace, harmony, justice and solidarity.'

Long lines of people, many praying, singing and carrying pictures of the leader of the world's 1.2 billion Roman Catholics and Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mexico's patron, flooded into the Mass site for hours.

On tour: The crowds were delighted to see the pope don the traditional Mexican sombrero

Centre of attention: The pope, complete with sombrero, waves to the crowds

Memorable: Pope Benedict XVI's personal secretary Georg Ganswein returns a child to its parents after being blessed by the Pontiff

Some camped out for more than a day to get a good spot at the event, the highlight of Benedict's three days in the world's second-most populous Roman Catholic country.

The archbishop of Leon, Jose Martin Rabago, set the tone by spelling out the sufferings of a country where clashes between drug cartels and the state have claimed more than 50,000 lives over the past five years.

'In the past few years we have been living through events of violence and death that have generated a painful sensation of fear, helplessness and grief,' Rabago told the pope and the crowd in his welcome address.

Holy encampment: Thousands of Catholics turned up to the Bicentennial Park in Silao to hear the Pope's address

Loyal: In only his second trip to the world's most Catholic continent, Pope Benedict is visiting Mexico before travelling to Cuba on Monday

The archbishop condemned what he called the 'perverse roots' of Mexico's problems, listing them as poverty, lack of opportunity, impunity, injustice and the belief of some that life's aim was to accumulate possessions and power.

'The overwhelming majority of our people,' the archbishop told the pope, 'does not want to walk along the path of death and destruction. They yearn to live in peace...'

Those words brought comfort to Santa Gurrola, a 38-year-old doctor from Zamora in Michoacan state in western Mexico who spent the night in the park.

Here he comes: It was back to a headpiece more commonly known for a pope to wear as he prepares for Mass

Remarkable: It is the Pontiff's first visit to Mexico, following which he will head to Cuba

Sombre: Pope Benedict crosses himself during the Mass

Excitement: Bishops stand together before the arrival of the pope prior to the mass

Crowd favourite: Huge crowds assembled for the open air Mass

'We are all praying so that our beloved Mexico stops being the place of so many murders,' she said. 'In my state drug traffickers control everything. We need a blessing from the pope,' she said.

On his way to the venue, the pope flew by helicopter over the giant hilltop monument with the statue of Christ the King, a symbol of the often stormy religious heritage of Mexico, which was officially anti-clerical for years after a 1910 revolution.

'We need the pope to motivate us with encouraging words so some good will come to us after everything that is happening,' said Aarom Gonzalez, an engineering student from nearby Guanajuato. 'There is violence on our streets and in our families.'

Benedict, who leaves for Cuba on Monday, addressed the problem of drug trafficking and the violence it sprouts in comments to reporters aboard the plane that brought him to Mexico from Rome on Friday.

He promised to 'unmask the evil' of the spiralling drug war and the 'idolatry of money which enslaves man'.

Leader: Pope Benedict XVI led a Vespers prayer at the Cathedral of Leon, Mexico, yesterday

Holy: Hundreds turned out to see Pope Benedict XVI lead prayer at the Cathedral of Leon yesterday

On Saturday night, the pope comforted a group of eight victims of the drug war. Alongside President Felipe Calderon, Benedict met relatives of a soldier and a policeman killed in combat with cartels, a man who survived a kidnapping, and the sister of a student shot by stray bullets during a street fight.

Calderon, from the conservative National Action Party, or PAN, which receives strong support from Catholics, has been criticized by the opposition for the timing of the pope's visit just 14 weeks before the next presidential election.

In awe: Children and parents waiting outside the Cathedral of Leon where the Pope was about to arrive

The president has staked his reputation on beating down the cartels. But the government's inability to stem the gangland violence has eroded support PAN, which faces an uphill struggle to retain the presidency in elections in July.

Calderon cannot run for re-election and the PAN's candidate, Josefina Vazquez Mota, trails the presidential front-runner, Enrique Pena Nieto of the opposition Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), by double digits in most opinion polls.

Waiting: Cuba is the next destination on Pope Benedict VXI's tour

Promotion: Many are wondering Pope Benedict XVI's visit to the Cuban capital of Havana will live up to the spectacular show put on by his predecessor John Paul II